March 24, 2005

Indonesia compensates its bird flu stricken poultry producers

Indonesian small poultry producers hit by the bird flu can look forward to compensation from the Indonesian Government.

The Ministry of Agriculture's Husbandry Production Supervision chief, R. Wasito, said that only poultry producers that had less than 15,000 chickens would receive the compensation of Rp 2,000 per chicken. Each producer will be allowed to claim up to 5,000 chickens.

Indonesia has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of bird flu since 2003, but, unlike in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, no cases have been reported so far in humans.